Microsoft has released a new computer called the “Surface Computer” which transforms a surface into a laptop or a wall. According to an article in PC World, users can interact with the computer by touching. It is heralded as being a new generation of products which would be a natural way for people to interact with the system. Information and data can be controlled by using your fingers. This product will be available to Microsoft’s partners. Starwood Hotels plans to put these systems inside their hotel rooms.
T-mobile will use them to sell its mobile products in an innovate manner.
Surface has Windows Vista installed and is tucked inside a table. It has five cameras that record infrared light from human fingertips. It has a projector which projects an image. The camera can recognize objects by specially designed tags. Users can interact with the system by touching their fingertips and moving tagged objects. It can respond to fifty two touches at a time.
This system can identify physical objects. For instance if someone goes to a restaurant to order a cheese sandwich, the system can offer additional sandwich choices to the dinner (Perenson, 2007).
Currently the system is expensive with a price tag of ten thousand dollars per unit. However it is expected to drop as consumer versions become available in the market for home users. Currently because of delays in applications for the systems, it will be available by the middle of 2008 for Microsoft’s technology partners. This system will revolutionize the concept of personal computers (Perenson, 2007).
Social computing is the new buzzword behind Microsoft’s decision to deploy the Surface computer.
The tabletop configuration of the Surface computer allows many possibilities like people sharing photos and interacting with each other. This interaction is based on multi-touch, directly interacting with the screen, multiple users experiencing the system and the recognition of objects by the computer. The system can allow a user to draw on the screen using the Paintbrush. Anyone can search for photographs using his own fingertips. Analysts say that Microsoft Surface computer is a revolution which allows users to experience a level of computing they have never done before.
Today the range of information technology products like desktops, laptops, mobiles and PDA is diverse and formidable. However Surface computer is an innovation which will allow users to interact with the system in a different and improved way (Perenson, 2007). Multi-touch was the technology which is behind the idea of Surface Computer. This concept was taken by the Microsoft development team in the early twenty first century. A special team was created to create a prototype. This prototype consisted of an IKEA table with a sheet of vellum and a hole on its top.
Several applications were also developed for this system. The Surface Computer was debuted in 2007 and was available for public use. The system combines the typical PC components along with cameras and projectors. The greatest challenge which the Microsoft team faced was getting the touch surface right. The device has infrared capability which allows the transfer of images, music and play lists. Microsoft’s Surface Computer allows direct interaction in which a user can touch the surface of the application. Further there are multiple contact points unlike mouse which has only one cursor.
Several people can interact with the product on different sides of the screen at the same time. The device can also recognize several tagged objects placed in front of it. Surface Computer allows objects like paint brush as an input device. The computer has an infrared wavelength LED which is the source of the Computer’s vision. The final model of the Surface Computer is expected to be shipped with the standard applications found on conventional desktop computers (Perenson, 2007). Microsoft aims to introduce this product for commercial organizations.
They believe that it will help change the way people will shop for products. They aim to expand the product for other industries like the entertainment, sports, airlines, schools and businesses. The product might encounter difficulties while being sold in the commercial market. However Microsoft believes that the new level of computing will eventually create an interest amongst consumers for this product. The Surface computer is an innovation because of its unique ability to allow users to directly interact with the screen.
The technology has been based on multi-touch which has been around for twenty five years. It goes to the credit of Microsoft for using the technology and creating a new concept for computing. Microsoft’s Surface Computer promises to change the way of computing. It will face many challenges but it will be in many ways a unique computing product.
References:
Perenson, Melissa J. (2007). Microsoft Debuts ‘Minority Report’-Like Surface Computer. Retrieved February 9, 2008, from PC World Web site: http://www. pcworld. com/article/id,132352-c,futuretechnology/article. html
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